Mechanism for feeding wrapping material to a wrapping machine



April 25, 1961 A. SERAGNOLI MECHANISM FOR FEEDING WRAPPING MATERIAL TO AWRAPPING MACHINE Filed April 9, 1957 mvermm Rriosfo Seragnoh By MOQmrorznsys States Patent '0 NIECHANISM FOR FEEDING WRAPPING MATE- RIAL TOA WRAPPING MACHINE Ariosto Seragnoli, Via Indipendenza 56, Bologna,Italy Filed Apr. 9, 1957, Ser. No. 651,759

Claims priority, application Italy Apr. 12, 1956 1 Claim. Cl. 271-82) Inautomatic wrapping machines it is generally necessary to successivelymove strips of wrapping material, such as paper, cellophane and othersuitable materials, which hereinafter for simplicitys sake will betermed paper, to a station for starting the wrapping operation, above orin front of the articles to be wrapped up.

The paper strips may be withdrawn from piles of previously cut strips,or they may be unwound from a paper bobbin, cut to the proper length andtaken by conveying means up to the station for starting the wrappingoperation.

If the strips are cut from a band unwound from a bobbin, in generalconsiderable difficulties are encountered, especially if the operationis performed at a high rate of speed, to keep in step the operation forunwinding the paper from the bobbin and the means intended to cut thepaper strips and to convey them to the wrapping station.

Attempts have been made to eliminate these inconveniences by means ofintermediate accumulating bags which permit the heavy bobbins to unwindwith a nearly constant speed, whereas the difference between thequantity of unwound paper and that which every time is withdrawn by theconveying and cutting members is accumulated in or delivered from thebag.

However, these systems give rise to drawbacks, especially if theoperation is to be performed at fast rates.

The present invention deals with a mechanism to cut from a paper bandsmall strips and to convey them to a station for starting the wrappingoperation, and it is characterized in that the unwinding of the paperfrom the bobbin is performed at a constant speed, without theinterposition of bags; the cut is effected on the moving band by meansof a rotating blade and the strips which are cut off are gripped byspecial pincers and taken one at a time to a wrapping station.

A preferred form of embodiment of the present invention is disclosed byway of example only, without any limitation, in the followingspecification,'with reference to the annexed drawing, in which:

- 2 by which the paper band advances during the time in which bladeperforms a revolution.

Moreover, the invention comprises pincers 29, 35 for gripping andconveying paper strip 27, cut off by blade 25, to a wrapping station 28,which canbe seen on the left hand side in the figures.

The pincers comprise a body 29 rotating in a support carried by theslide 31, whichlatter can slide axially, but not rotate within thesupport 32 secured to a base by means not shown.

Body 29 at its lower end is integral with a gear 33,

and engaging a roller 40 carried by the lever 38.

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic vertical section of the mechanisrn, accordingto line II-II of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic partial plan view of the mechanism.

In both figures two different phases of operation of the mechanism arerepresented, which are marked with the letter a and with the letter b,respectively.

The mechanism according to the preferred form of embodiment describedcomprises: two unwinding rollers 20, 21 rotating at a constant speed inthe direction of arrows 45, 46, which rollers unwind a paper band 22from a bobbin, not shown, and cause it to advance at a constant speed inthe direction of arrow 23.

The unwound paper band passes above a stationary blade 24 and below amovable blade 25 which likewise On the left hand side b of Figures land2 a portionof a feeding disc of the usual type 41 is shown, providedwith holes which are entered by the articles to be wrapped up 42. Thedisc rotates intermittently and successively causes every hole with thearticle contained therein to'rest in a removal station 28.

The portion b of Figure 1 shows the station 28 for re-. moving thearticles from the holes and for starting the;

wrapping operation, in which station the article to be wrapped up 42 islocated above an elevator 43 and a. counter-elevator 44.

The paper strip 27 is just being conveyed between the counter-elevatorand the article.

The operation is as follows: By suitably adjusting the movement, theoperation takes place in such manner that in the instant in which therotating blade 25 cuts a strip 27, the 29, 35 are positioned on theright hand side a of Figure 1, while the small rod 37 under the actionof lever 38 keeps open said pincers.

While blade 25 cuts the strip 27, cam 39 leaves pulley 40 and lever 38moves downwards so as to permit the closure of the pincers: thisarrangement is that shown in at a in Fig. l.

Subsequently slide 31, which is moved for instance by a cam, not shown,moves to the left thus causing the support 30 to rotate simultaneouslyaround its axis and producing a translatory motion from right to left ofthe pincers and of the sheet pressed by the latter.

The rotation is produced by the rolling movement of toothed wheel 33upon the stationary rack 34.

The displacement to the left of slide 31 is continued until the toothedwheel 33 engaged in the rack 34 has caused the pincers to perform onehalf of a revolution; this position of the pincers and of the strip isindicated in Figure 1 on the left hand side b, showing the strip 27which, owing to the translatory motion and the rotation it has undergonethrough the pincers, has moved above the article to be wrapped up 42,between such article and the counter-elevator 44, in the wrappingstation 28.

At this stage, cam 39 again causes rod 37 to be lifted and finger 35 ofthe pincers to be simultaneously opened, so that strip 27 is abandonedupon article 42.

At the same time, elevator 43 and counter-elevator 44 approach eachother, clamping strip 27 and the article to be wrapped up 42, thereuponelevator 43 simultaneous ly moves upwards with counter-elevator 44, thusconveying the article to be wrapped into a wrapipng machine.

In the meantime, while cam 39 keeps. raised the small rod 37 and keepsopen the finger 35 of the pincers, the slide 31 moves to the right, thusconveying the pincers to Patented Apr. 25, 1961 the, position as shownat a in Fig. 1, but into the open position to receive a fresh strip 27.

At this stage starts a new cycle for cutting, gripping those skilled inthe artthat a number of changes and;

modifications may be introduced without thereby departing from thespirit and the objects of the invention, and the appended claim isintended to cover all those alternate forms of embodiment andmodifications which fall under the objects of the inventionitself.

What I claim is:

In a wrapping machine, in combination with a pair of rotary unwindingrollers for feeding a wrapping sheet, cutting. means for successivelycutting off strips from said sheet; and two elevator members extendingtransversely to said sheet, at least one of said elevator members beingmovable toward the other elevator member to engage a cut-off sheetstrip; a mechanism for feeding the cut off sheet strip to said elevatormembers, said mechanism comprising a stationary support, aslide axiallyslidable in said support, a tubular support firmly connected with saidslide, a rotary tubular member within the last-mentionedsupport,vpincers located between said cutting means and said elevatormembers and comprising a pincer element firmly connected with saidrotary tubular member and located outside of thelast-mentioned support,and another pincer element cooperating with the first-mentioned pincerelement and pivotally mounted thereon, said pincer elements extending inthe direction of the cut off sheet strip and when open being adapted to.receive the out 01f sheet strip fed by said uwinding rollers, astationary rack ex: tending parallel to said stationary support, a gearfirmly connected with said rotary tubular member and meshing with saidrack, means reciprocating said slide, whereby said pincers are swingableabout an axis extending transversely to the direction'of the feedmovement of said wrapping, sheet substantially degrees from a positionadjacent said cutting means to a position adjacent said elevator membersand vice versa, the out 011 sheet strip carried by the pincers remainingsubstantially in the same plane during the swinging movement of thepincers, a swigable lever extending substantially parallel to saidguide, a rotary cam actuating said lever, and a rod located within saidrotary tubular member and extending transversely to said pincers, saidrod having one end engaging said lever and another end engaging saidother pincer element for opening and closing said pincers in timedrelationship to the stroke of said reciprocating slide.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS345,222 Fenner July 6, 1886 852,663 Igou May 7, 1907 1,839,438 PrussingJan. 5, 1932 1,893,460 Tilton Jan. 3, 1933 2,071,123 Hubelmeyer Feb. 16,1937 2,200,123 Roedels May 7, 1940 2,501,835 Barber Mar. 28, 19502,668,590 DeWitt et al. Feb. 9, 1954- 2,776,004 Carlson Jan. 1, 1957

